Frantic
by PkmnLegacy
Summary: Ruby realizes he screwed up, but is it too late to fix it?    With a little help from friends, can he once again get Sapphire to love him?    *Contains spoliers from Pokemon Special*
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or anything related to it.

WARNING: This story contains spoilers from Ruby&Sapphire and Emerald chapters of the Pokemon Special manga.

"Oh, just admit it Ruby!" she yelled, pushing him up against the wall. "You remember!"

"Sapphire, please, this is a new jacket" he started, but the look in her eyes told him to shut up. Had she been crying? "Sapphire-"

"You. Rembember."

Figuring it was best to tell the truth, he nodded carefully. Apparently, that was a bad idea. Sapphire threw him to the ground and looked down at him, teeth gritted and lips pulled back.

"Why have you not said anything?" she wailed. "For all this time-"

"I was scared!" he interrupted.

"What?" she answered, slightly less menacing.

"I was afraid, because I had never felt like that for anyone before. Like I do. I didn't want to risk getting hurt, and I know it was stupid but-"

"YOU didn't want to get hurt?" she screamed, flying at him and hitting him hard. He simply lay there, shielding his face with his arms and waiting for her to calm down. Eventually, she stopped punching and sat back on the ground next to him.

"What about me?" she demanded, tears coming to her eyes. "Ruby... I thought you had changed."

"Sapphire, I am sorry" he managed.

"Well it's too late!" she yelled, getting to her feet. Ruby felt his heart break when he saw the tears he had caused run down her cheeks.

"Sapphire!" he said, but she just turned around and ran. "Sapphire?"


	2. Chapter 2

Professor Birch turned and frowned as Ruby slowly entered his lab, looking slightly scared as he slid in through the door. The boy who usually was so clean and well dressed was a mess. His posture was slouching, his clothing covered in dirt and hair sticking out from under his hat.

"Professor!" Ruby exclaimed when he saw Birch looking at him.

"Ruby, what has happened to you?" Birch said, lifting one eyebrow.

"Nevermind that, is Sapphire here, I need to talk to her and-"

"No, she is not" the professor interrupted. "She left for Kanto yesterday, said you had a fight. Mind telling me what that was about?"

"I screwed up, badly" Ruby mumbled, falling into a chair. He looked up at professor Birch with tears in his eyes, then looked away again. "Professor, I did not want to but I really hurt your daughter."

Professor Birch was calmer about this statement than Ruby had thought he would be. He simply walked over to his desk and opened a drawer, looking for something.

"Professor-" Ruby began.

"Hold on Ruby" Birch answered. Ruby did as told and looked at the professor as he rummaged through the small drawer.

"Ah, there it is" the professor said after a while.

"What, professor?" Ruby said, frowning.

"Ruby, you did not mean to hurt my daughter, right?"

"Of course not, I would never hurt her intentionally!" Ruby said, straightening up.

"I will not ask for details, but I will give you a chance to make up for it" Birch said, handing Ruby a small paper.

"Sir?" Ruby said, taking the paper.

"That is a ticket for a ride to Kanto. Originally, I was planning on joining Sapphire on the trip there, so I could visit my collegue professor Oak. However, something else came up and Sapphire instead went alone. It should be good for another two days or so" the professor explained.

"But I have no money!" Ruby objected. "Even if I want to, I can't pay you back for this!"

Professor Birch turned back to him, lifting his eyebrows.

"Firstly, if you would not use it, the ticket would just be lying there in the drawer anyway, so money does not matter" he said. "Secondly, this is your chance to make up for whatever you have done to hurt my daughter. I suggest you take it."

Ruby sniffled, and dried off his eyes, standing again and giving the professor a nod of resolve.

"I will go back home and pack immediatly sir!" he said loudly, his posture once again straight as he walked towards the door. "I can't thank you enough for giving me this second chance."

"It is not just for you, Ruby" Birch answered. "It is more for Sapphires sake."

"Of course!" Ruby replied quickly. He grabbed the door handle and yanked it open. "But thank you anyway!"

"No problem Ruby, we have all made mistakes in our life. Me too" professor Birch answered. "Just one more thing before you go."

"What's that professor?"

"If you hurt my daughter one more time, I am going to personally send all my Pokémon to deal with you, do you understand?" Birch said, his expression dead serious. Ruby nodded.

"Yes, professor" he said, exiting. After a couple of seconds he put his head in through the door again. "Professor?" he said.

"Ruby" professor Birch answered.

"If I hurt your daughter again," Ruby said, a smile playing in the corner of his mouth, "I will personally send my own Pokémon to deal with me too, okay?"

"Sounds fair" professor Birch agreed. "Now go, you do not have much time!"

And with that, Ruby went home to pack for his trip to Kanto.


	3. Chapter 3

As he arrived in Kanto, Red and Silver was waiting for him.

"Hey guys!" Ruby shouted, waving. "I thought Gold was gonna be with you?"

"He was" Silver replied drily.

"We kinda didn't manage to wake him up" Red said with a grin, scratching the back of his head. "He is back at the hotel."

"And Sapphire is... distracted?" Ruby asked carefully.

"Yes, when you called and told me about the situation I made some arrangements. Sapphire thinks that it's just the girls getting together for a weeks vacation here in Kanto. Yellow and Blue are showing her around over in Celadon City by now I guess, and Crystal is supposed to meet up with them in a day or two" Red explained.

"Well good thing the boat docked in Johto and I could take the train here to Saffron instead of having to go the whole way by boat" Ruby said, correcting the angle of his hat. "I don't really like sea travel since the whole incident with Groudon and Kyogre."

"We are going by bus back to Viridian City, and then we will walk from there to Pallet Town" Silver said. "That is, if we can wake Gold up..."

"Can't believe that stupid boy" Sapphire muttered to herself. "Pretending like that all the time just for-"

"Relax" Blue said, putting a hand on her shoulder and giving her a wink. "You are here to forget that for a while, right?"

"Right" Sapphire agreed, calming down a bit. They were shopping in Celadon City and would be staying at a hotel there until Crystal arrived.

"Oh that would look so good on you!" Blue squealed, hurrying over to Yellow who was holding a small green dress. "Try it on, please?"

"Blue, this really isn't my style..." Yellow protested.

"If you change your style a bit, a certain boy might pay a bit more attention to yooou" Blue said in a singsong voice, grabbing Yellow by the shoulders and steering her toward a fitting room. Sapphire gave a chuckle when she saw the bright red Yellows cheeks had gotten.

"I can't believe you are talking me into this" was the last she heard before her seniors disappeared behind the corner to the fitting rooms. She rolled her eyes at Blue's forwardness and ran after them into the other room.


	4. Chapter 4

Red dumped a six-pack of soda on the table and slumped into the three-seat sofa next to Silver. Gold was comfortably relaxing in the armchair next to it, and Ruby was sitting on the two-seat sofa opposite the armchair, leaning forward with an anxious expression.

"Right, any ideas?" Ruby asked when Red had seated himself.

"Alright, how about this" Gold said immeditly, putting his arm up. "We dress up and kidnap Sapphire and you rescue her, becoming her valiant hero!"

"I'd like to do this without serious risk of injury, thank you" Ruby said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh come on, of course we wont hurt her!" Gold objected.

"I meant for us" Ruby said.

"Oh, point taken" Gold said, shruddering when he thought about how brutal Crystal could be when angry at him, and with Sapphire being what he called a 'wild girl', it couldn't really get better.

"Surprise her with a romantic dinner or something?" Red suggested, shrugging.

"Might not be enough" Ruby admitted. "She was pretty angry."

"Maybe you should just try to say you're sorry? Might help" Silver said in a bored voice. "You never know."

"No, she would most probably kill me" Ruby said in what he hoped was a nonchalant voice.

They sat there silent for a while. Ruby helped himself to a soda and noted that Red was slowly sipping his while Gold was already on his third one.

"I really can't think of anything" Red said after a while, shrugging. "Gold, Silver?"

"I have never really cared about that stuff" Silver said.

"How about we catch some Pokémon and have it attack her so you can save her?" Gold said. The three other boys stared at him.

"Gold, your ideas are seriously really really stu-" Red started, before being interrupted as the front door slammed open, Blue rushing in, her face pale and Sapphire and Crystal right behind her. Ruby somehow managed to do a horizontal backflip over the back of the sofa, but Sapphire had spotted him.

"You!" She yelled. "What are you doing here, you little-"

"Sapphire, we have something more important than that right now" Crystal said gently, grabbing her arm. Sapphire relaxed and stepped back, but gave Ruby a snarl when he looked up from behind the sofa with a dizzy expression.

"Blue, what's wrong?" Red asked, getting to his feet. "Where is Yellow?"

"She was-" Blue said, before interrupting herself. "She was staying at home during the night, she has disappeared."

"What!" Red, Silver and Gold shouted at the same time.

"Green called and told us. He said the house was totally destroyed" Crystal said. "There was a message for you, he said he would bring it here as quickly as possible."

Red fell back down into the sofa, and Silver grabbed his arm so he wouldn't fall over. Ruby seemed to deem it safe to stand up, but he made sure to keep a few meters away from Sapphire just in case. A few minutes later, they heard a thump from the garden as Green and Charizard landed just outside the house. Moments later, the door opened again and Green strode in, a small scroll in his outstretched hand.

"Red" he said simply. Red nodded and went to retrieve the scroll. He opened it and read it through once, then twice.

"Well?" Blue said impatiently. "What does it say?"

"This is revenge. Revenge for what you did to me all those years ago. Come alone or she dies" Red read loud. "And there is a map."

"No sender?" Gold asked, grabbing the last soda. Crystal smacked him over the hand.

"How can you think about drinking at a time like this?" she said angrily.

"I don't think about it it just happens!" Gold complained.

"There is no sender written down, although there is a golden L in the corner of the map" Red said.

"So who could-" Blue started.

"Lance" Red said. "Has to be him. Who else?"

"What are you going to do?" Sapphire asked.

"Go after her of course" Red answered.

"Alone?" Blue said.

"I have to, you heard the message."

"Red" Green said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We should still have a backup plan."

"I agree" Gold said. Silver simply nodded.

"I'm listening" Red said, crossing his arms and turning to Green.


	5. Chapter 5

Red stopped for a second before acending the last staircase up through the cave into the open arena-like area in front of him. He was momentarily blinded when he stepped out into the harsh sunlight, and he heard a laugh from the far end of the small pit. He turned to see the outline of a man standing on a cliff pillar in the middle of the pit.

"Red, finally we meet again."

"Lance," Red answered, "sorry to say that I do not share your happiness over the fact. Where is Yellow?"

"She is safe, for now. Place your pokéballs on the holder in front of you and step back" Lance answered. Red looked up to see Lance now standing on his Aerodactyl and slowly decending down towards him. "I will release your precious girlfriend when you do."

"She's not-" Red started, before biting his lip. "Fine."

He took a step forward, placed the balls in the holders and then stepped back.

"Very good" Lance said with a cold smile. "Here she is."

A Dragonite emerged from one of the caves, holding Yellow's limp body in its arms.

"What have you done to her!" Red yelled, catching the girl as the Dragonite simply dropped her towards the ground.

"Stunspore" Lance answered simply. "It should be wearing off soon."

"Red?" Yellow whispered in a weak voice. "Red, is it really you?"

"Yes, hang on, it'll be alright" Red answered, carefully laying her down on the ground.

"Alright? Feh, she will watch you die!" Lance said, laughing. "You have no pokémon on you anymore, you came here alone or I would had spotted something with my cameras or ground sensors, and you are about to be destroyed."

As Lance spoke, several Dragonair began to slither out of the caves around them and forming a ring around Red and Yellow, surrounding them.

"This is the end for you two" Lance said.

"Why are you doing this?" Red asked, trying to buy some time. "Revenge?"

"Revenge? You really think it is that simple?" Lance asked in disbelief. "No this is bigger than that. This time, you won't be able to stop my plans. I spent a lot of time thinking since our last battle and my resolve has only grown harder."

"Resolve or not, we will still stop you" came a voice from the cave entrance. Lance spun around with eyes wide in surprise as Green and Blue came rushing in, Ruby and Sapphire just behind them.

"What? How did you get in here without being spotted by the cameras?" Lance demanded.

"With this" Green said, holding up a pokeball. "Red dropped my Porygon2 just after the last camera. It infiltrated your digital transmission network and looped all the feeds so that you could not see us approaching."

"Smart, but you forgot one thing" Lance said. "Always look behind you."

Green and Blue both tensed as sharp blades were pressed up against their throats.

"You had a Schyter hiding behind those rocks in case someone found a way in?" Green asked in a slightly bored tone. Lance only gave him a smirk.

"It pays to be ready for any eventuality. Don't move" he answered.

"Oh yea? You forgot about me!" Sapphire yelled, leaping forward, pulling a pokéball from her belt.

"Not really" Lance said, waving his hand in her direction. The Dragonair that had carried Yellow out of the cave spun around and shot a hyperbeam straight at her.

"Oh" Sapphire managed, before Ruby tackled her aside. The hyperbeam hit just meters away from where they were, throwing them both backwards. Sapphire gave a yelp of pain as something in her leg seemed to break as she landed on the hard rocky ground.

"Pathetic. You are no match for my power" Lance said. "That's two down."

"Ruby!" Sapphire yelled, turning to see a massive chunk of rock sticking out of the boy's side. She quickly crawled over to him. "Ruby?"

"This really hurts" Ruby answered, coughing out some blood. His face had turned a very pale white. "I mean really really."

Meanwhile, Yellow had regained some control from the stunspore, and was trying to get Reds attention by pulling at his trouser leg. He sat down next to her, leaning in close.

"What is it Yellow?" he whispered.

"Red" she said. "When we first met. In Viridian Forest, you helped me catch my first Pokémon after saving me from that Dratini."

"That was you?" Red asked, eyebrows shooting up. "Yellow-"

"Do you remember what you taught me after?" she said, holding her hand out. He took it and was surprised to find a Pokéball there. He looked down and saw Aero, his Aerodactyl, in it.

"How did you-" he started.

"Telekinesis. Red, you taught me, when surrounded..." she said, and he suddenly understood. Meanwhile, Lance had apparently run out of patience.

"Enough chatter" he snarled, pointing at Red and Yellow. "All Dragonairs, use hyper beam on those two."


	6. Chapter 6

"When surrounded, go up!" Red yelled, calling out Aero, grabbing Yellow and kicking off from the ground in one movement. The ground below them exploded in a rain of molten rock as a dozen hyper beams converged at the point they had just been lying. The shockwave almost made Red lose his grip around Yellow, but he only squeezed her tighter to himself, holding on to Aero with his other arm, feeling as if he would be ripped in two.

"What!" Lance screamed. Several of the Dragonair tried to follow Aero with their beams as he flew straight up, resulting in some of them hitting each other or the cliffs around them. One was even close to hitting Lance himself, forcing him to dodge aside on his own Aerodactyl.

Green took advantage of the situation, dropping backwards and kicking Blue in the back of her knee so that she fell almost on top of him and dropping a pokeball in the process. The Scyther didn't have time to react before Greens Scizor came out of its ball, grabbing Scythers blade arms with its claws and knocking it out with a well-placed headbutt.

"Green, you-" Blue started, but Green rolled over without a word, pulling out another pokeball and throwing it towards Ruby and Sapphire. Porygon2 came shooting out, using protect to stop another hyper beam before it reached them.

Red landed right next to the rock where his pokeballs were placed, snatching them all up with one arm while releasing Aero and still holding Yellow under his other arm. Lance was furios now, trying to bring order out of the chaos that had spread though the pit. At least half of the Dragonairs were knocked out along with Scyther and Porygon2 was keeping Dragonite busy while the dexholders tried to regroup.

"You will still fail!" Lance yelled from his Aerodactyl, soaring high above them. "Only half of you can still fight and you have to protect those who can't while doing it!"

"Guess again" Green said, calling out all of his Pokémon. "We have backup."

"Backup?" Lance said, frowning, but then letting out a shocked yell as he almost fell off the Aerodactyl when he was tackled in the back. Two blurry shaped swooped past him, one red and one blue.

"Dang, didn't get a clear hit" he heard someone.

"Emerald, I am crashing!" the other yelled. "Help me!"

"Sorry Chris!" the first one, Emerald, shouted back, flying in closer to slow the second one down.

"Two more?" Lance said. "Some girl and a tiny kid riding some strange Pokemons?"

"Where is Gold and Silver?" Green said, running up to Crystal and Emerald as they half-crashed, half-landed next to them.

"Shot down, they landed in the sea somewhere, think they are OK" Emerald answered as Crystal dismounted on shaky legs. "Latios, Latias, get out of here! You're in no condition to fight!"

"Emerald, wait!" Red said. He, Blue and Green had all called out their pokémon by now and Lance quickly engaged them in battle. Emerald put a hand on Latios back to signal for it to wait and then sent out his own pokémon to help in the battle.

"Try to get-" Red started, interrupting himself to dodge as a Dragonair tried to jab him with its horn, only to be grabbed and tossed aside by Saurs vine whip. "Get Ruby and Sapphire out of here somehow, they need a hospital!"

"Yes" Emerald said, rushing over with Crystal and their pokémon tight behind, providing cover from the attacking dragons.

"Uhm, Red?" Crystal called back over the noise of combat. "I am not sure that we can actually move Ruby without making this worse than it already is! We would need a stretcher."

"Damn, then-" Red started, backing a few steps to get closer to Yellow who had not yet regained full mobility from the stunspore.

"Here, use this!" Blue called, throwing something he could not see towards Crystal. "It's my Ditto, tell it to make a stretcher under him!"

"Great idea Blue!" Red called, diving aside as another Dragonair forced its way past the pokémon, attacking him straight on. This time, Green used his Porygon2 to block and knock out the massive foe.

Red rolled over on the ground and, realizing he was now on top of Yellow, blushed and tried to rise. A hyper beam smashed the rock behind him though, and he grabbed the girl beneath him hard to protect her from the blast. He got to his feet and swung around, ready to face the next enemy. Yellow was left lying on the ground, red as a tamato berry in the face, but no one seemed to notice.


	7. Chapter 7

The twelve Dragonair had now been reduced to four, and the Dragonite was knocked out. Lance retreated backwards, the remaining Dragonair taking up defensive positions around him and Aerodactyl.

Meanwhile, Crystal and Emerald managed to slip out through one of the side caves on Latios and Latias, carrying with them Ruby and, after much arguing, Sapphire.

Crystal pulled out her pokégear again, trying to reach Gold or Silver, but got no response. Nervously, she returned her attention to the task at hand, to try to steady herself on the nearly exhausted pokémon she was riding.

"Come on guys, just a little bit more" Emerald said, patting Latias on the head. "We just need to get to the boat!"

They lost altitude quickly as they approached the boat, and it was pretty obvious they were not going to make it. Crystal looked over to see Emerald whispering encouraging words to Latias, and Sapphire sitting in front of her, holding on to Latios long neck. Ruby was lying between the two, on Ditto who was formed as a stretcher. She bit her lower lip and then made a decision.

"Sapphire, hold on tight" she shouted. The girl in front of her nodded. "And see you back at the boat."

"What?" Sapphire asked, turning her head just in time to see Crystal drop from behind her, down towards the stormy sea. She stretched an arm out, yelling in shock, but Crystal just extended her arm, giving her a thumbs up before hitting the water with a splash.

"She fell?" Emerald asked, looking back, face pale and filled with worry.

"Jumped, but we don't have time for-" Sapphire started.

"Yes" Emerald interrupted her. "She jumped to help us reach the boat. We can't let it have been a waste."

They could spot the boat now, quickly closing in as they drew nearer and lower. They were only a few hundred meters away...


	8. Chapter 8

Water closed in over her head, and she kicked up, trying to resurface. Waves were everywhere and she was dizzy after the long fall.

"I should had brought a water pokémon" went through her head as she was once again pulled down into the cold sea, almost ready to give up against the strong currents when she suddenly stopped sinking.

"What..." she thought, trying to see what was holding her up. Then she was dragged out of the water, out of the calm under the waves, into the chaotic storm again. She gasped for air, filling her lungs, trying to see clearly around her. A hand was grasping her arm tightly, refusing to let go.

"Why are you so serious?" a voice asked, half mocking and half worried. "It's okay though."

"Gold?" she asked, on the verge of crying. She was pulled up and put her arms around him as he steered Mantaro around, skipping across the water back towards the boat. "Where is Silver? Why are we going back to the boat?"

"You are going back to the boat" Gold corrected. "Silver is waiting on his Gyarados, we will try again to reach the island, but you are not coming with us."

"What?" she asked, suddenly angry. "You are just going to drop me off, leave me behind?"

Gold turned around, looking surprised.

"Crystal," he said, "you almost drowned just now, there is no shame in remaining behind after such a trauma."

She leaned her head against his back, closing her eyes. He frowned at her before he turned back to steering towards the boat. They reached it soon enough and he helped Crystal on board. Emerald was busy helping Yellows uncle and the others caring for Latios and Latias. Sapphire was sitting over the bloodied and unconcious Ruby, tears running down her cheeks, biting her lower lip so hard that it was almost bleeding. Crystal fell to her knees next to her and wrapped an arm around the younger girl.

"Emerald, you coming?" Gold asked.

"Yes, yes, hold on" Emerald said, turning to the boats captain. "You need to get back to the mainland as quickly as possible. Make sure that the others here gets to a hospital. Send a boat to pick the rest of us up when you are done with that."

The captain gave a curt nod and turned around, starting to give orders. Emerald went over to Gold, and they both waved goodbye to Crystal before climbing back down to ride Mantaro back to the island and the fighting.

"He will come back you know" Sapphire said, her voice cracking. "He will come back and Ruby will be healed and we will all be okay."

Crystal looked at the blood drenched boy that Sapphire was carefully washing with a damp piece of cloth, but she didn't have the heart to tell her what she feared. Instead, she just gave the younger girl a squeeze and mumbled to her.

"Of course they will be back. And we will all be fine, we just need some rest."

Sapphire gave her a sad smile, eyes still tearfilled and a small cut running across her lip. Then she went back to trying to clean the blood and dirt off Ruby's face, with ever so gentle movements.


	9. Chapter 9

"Bwahahaha, it is useless to fight against my army!" Lance bellowed from the end of the canyon.

"We have managed to defeat most of your so called army already!" Blue yelled back in a cocky voice. However, Red and Green could clearly hear the slight tremble in her shout, the nervousness and sadness over their wounded fellows.

"Have you now?" Lance asked, crossing his arms with a smirk. "Pity you have to die, or you could had seen my great triumph. This has only begun!"

With that, hundreds of black shapes started flying from the cave entrances and from over the cliffs around them.

"What are those?" Green asked, pulling his pokédex up.

"Unown" Red said, just before the pokédex had completed its scan.

"Unown, the Symbol Pokémon" the pokédex echoed. "Unown uses telepathy to communicate with eachother. Many different shapes of Unown have been discovered."

"But what are they-" Blue started, before being interrupted by Lance.

"With those gloves, my telepathic powers from Viridian Forest are enhanced beyond belief!" he shouted. "With them, I can control the Unown, make them do my bidding!"

"You are using Pokémon to further your own goals!"

Red, Blue and Green all turned around to see Yellow slowly trying to get to her feet. Blue had to catch her so she would not fall over.

"Yellow-" she started, but the other girl simply shook her head, a rarely seen anger creeping across her face.

"You!" she yelled, pointing at Lance. "You are using Pokémon to further your own goals, while talking about how people destroy for them! You are no better than them!"

"How dare you!" Lance screamed back, extending both hands. "You little brat, I am doing this not for me! I am doing this for them, and they know that!"

The hundreds of Unown swirled around in a globe-form, making a rustling sound as they did. Suddenly, Lance made a violent swing with his arm, and the Unown shot forward.

Blue helped Yellow sit down, then joined Red and Green in repelling the attack. However, their Pokémon quickly started to tire as hundreds more Unown joined the battle every minute. Greens Machamp was the first to faint, quickly followed by Blues Wigglytuff and Clefy. As Reds Poli also was recalled after taking too much damage, Lance pushed the attack even more, Unown of all shapes rushing forward.

"Alone, they are weak. Together, their strength is immeasurable!" Lance screamed. "Who wins now? Who gets revenge?"

The Unown finally overwhelmed their defense, swarming the four dexholders, trapping them against the ground and attacking relentlessly.

"Yellow!" one of them screamed, but Yellow wasn't really sure who. It felt as though she was being stretched out and pulled together at the same time. Her ears were popping under the sheer mass and weight of the Unown pressing down on her.

"Red?" she chansed, but she wasn't sure anyone could hear her. A few muffled cries from next to her sounded like Pika or Chuchu, but she couldn't check. Then the pressure lifted and she felt herself hovering above the ground, as if hanging there to dry.

"Is this not the perfect revenge?" she heard Lance. "You stopped me before, so now I stop you from stopping my plans a second time."

"Is this really for the Pokémon, or is it for you?" Yellow countered. She noticed now that it was the Unown holding her in the air above the others. Reds arm was sticking out from under the pile, but it quickly vanished beneath the pressing wave of black shapes.

"I am for the Pokémon" Lance said, now calm and even smiling. "Therefore, what is for me is for the Pokémon. And now, you will watch your friends die, one by one, under the crushing weight of hundreds of powerful Pokémon."

He extended a hand, a glove filled with wires on it, and then clenched his fist. The Unown responded immeditly, pressing together against the struggling pokédex holders as Yellow could only hang there to watch...


	10. Chapter 10

"You lose" Lance said, extending his hand. He spread his fingers, and the Unown holding Yellow started pulling in all directions at the same time. She gave a gasp of pain and pressed her eyes shut.

There was a loud crash. Yellow felt herself falling, hitting the ground after a couple of seconds. She rolled over, dazed, to see Lance scrambling to his feet next to her, Unown flying around in disarray, Silver running over to Blue, Emerald and Gold sprinting towards her, with Golds Sudobo, Exbo and Aibo, the latter on Gold's shoulder, and Emeralds Sceptile.

"The gloves!" she yelled. "Aim for the gloves!"

"Enough!" Lance roared from next to her, sending a stream of Unown to intercept Gold and Emerald. Gold saw it coming and yelled something she couldn't hear to Emerald, who recalled his Sceptile. Golds Pokémon clashed with the Unown, but him and Emerald kept running.

"Alright, now!" Gold yelled. Emerald threw Sceptiles pokéball straight down just as the Unown surrounded them, blocking both from Yellows line of sight. Then she saw Sceptile jump up, Emerald perched on its neck.

"The gloves!" she said again. Lance did a swift motion with his right hand, and some of the Unown diverted their attention to Emerald, grabbing him. He let himself fall back, while Sceptile shot straight forward.

"No, stop it!" Lance yelled, sending his Aerodactyl forward. Sceptile dodged and Yellow had to roll aside to avoid being hit as the fossile bird swooped by. She came around just in time to see Sceptile hit Lance with a Leaf Blade attack, severing several of the cords on one glove and making the other fall of completely.

The battle stopped as the Unown swarmed around, confused by the loss of leadership. Yellow hesitated only a second before getting to her feet, putting a hand up to stop Gold and Emerald from attacking, other than knocking out Lance's Aerodactyl.

"Once every few years" she said, looking at Lance, her throat dry and voice slightly more raspy than usual. "A child is born in Viridian, with special powers. Giovanni had those powers, and he used Pokémon for evil purposes. You have those powers, and you use them for evil."

"I do not-" Lance interrupted, but Yellow continued anyway.

"You use Pokémon to further your own goal! You forced these Unown to fight for you, to fight a battle for your own sake!"

"I do this for the good of all Pokémon!" Lance screamed in a rage, trying to patch together the severed glove.

"You did all this for personal revenge!" Yellow shouted, tears in her eyes now. "And you used a machine to force these Unown to help you!"

The Unown had stopped swirling around now, instead focusing all their attention on Lance and Yellow. She felt a bit nervous when she noticed, but looked up at the biggest concentration of them.

"This man used you!" she yelled to them. "He wanted to force you into doing this, I can feel your confusion now that he is no longer controlling you!"

There was a stir in the swarm around them, and several of the Unown seemed to shift their attention towards Lance. She could still feel confusion, but also perhaps a big of anger? Pain?

"I only did it to save you and all other Pokémon!" Lance countered, fixing his eyes on Yellow, who felt a cold knot form in her belly. "From people like those!"

This, however, did not seem to work. The Unown suddenly all united in resolve, and she felt a massive surge of collective anger go through them. It was exhausting her strength, but she forced herself to remain standing, to stay awake.

"Uh guys?" she heard Gold say. "Those Pokémon are getting a bit tense and-"

A sound interrupted him, and they all twirled around to see a group of the Unown spinning fast in a circle behind Lance.

"What?" he said, frowning, as several other Unown joined in. Then, suddenly, he stumbled towards the ring of Unown, as if he lost his footing. "They are creating a black hole?"

He backed a few steps towards Yellow, who was feeling really dizzy by now from using her abilities so much. She saw Lance slowly start to glide towards the hole between the Unown, and she felt herself follow, slowly...


	11. Chapter 11

They reached the coast soon enough. The boat captain had called ahead, so several medics swarmed aboard the second they hit land.

Crystal tried her best to keep Sapphire calm, even as they carefully loaded Ruby into an ambulance. She and Sapphire sat next to the boy, who was now slipping in and out of conciousness, a weird smile on his face every time he saw Sapphires tear-stained face hover above him.

"Its going to be okay" she said, putting her arm around the younger girl, but she wasn't sure about it anymore. Sapphire just nodded and sniffed loudly.

Sceptile managed to grab Yellow just as she fell asleep, using its natural climbing abilities to resist the pull of the Unown. Lance, on the other hand, stumbled and had to grab on to a rock sticking out of the ground to keep from being sucked in.

"This is not good" Gold mumbled, then turned to yell to Silver. "Hey are any of the seniors awake? We should get out of here quickly!"

"You-" Lance huffed, grabbing on to the rock with all his energy. "Traitors! Destroying everything!"

"I think Red is coming around" Silver reported back. "If you help Red, then I can carry Blue and Sceptile can keep carrying Yellow. I will call out Feraligatr to carry Green."

"Right, we don't have a bit more though, we have to go now" Gold said, looking back over his shoulder at Lance, who was clenching his teeth, eyes bulging from fury.

"This is not over!" the dragon trainer screamed. "I will kill you all! You are... too weak!"

"Right, let me know how that goes" Gold called back, running over to his seniors with Emerald and Sceptile right behind him. He heard a scream and turned around to see Lance trying to claw his towards them before losing his grip and tumbling backwards into the vortex.

He grabbed Red by the arm and started running, half carrying and half leading the older trainer. Silver, Sceptile, Feraligatr and Emerald was right behind him, each carrying their own load, Emerald having picked up everyones scattered Pokéballs.

They ran into one of the caves, stones being sucked away and cliffs crumbling around them.

"Crystal?"

"Yes!" she shouted, picking up her pokégear at the sound of Golds voice. "Are you okay?"

"Are you on the boat?" he yelled. The background noise was overwhelming and nearly drowned out his voice.

"Yes, yes I am, we are on the way back, we are there in just a few minutes!" she yelled back, hoping he heard her.

"Yeah, could you tell the captain to hurry up? Else, it won't matter if you come at all, our water Pokémon are too exhausted from the ride here, Sapphires Wailord is gone and-" Gold said before the transmission suddenly broke off. She felt like crying in panic, but nodded to herself and ran over to the captain.

"Yes?" he said, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"Can we go faster?" she pleaded.

"I have already managed to push her past the regular max speed" the captain answered. "We will be there shortly!"

"Sir!" someone called from the front of the boat. "I see the island, but there is something weird going on!"

Crystal ran to the front of the boat and saw right away what he meant. A dark round shape was hovering over the island, tearing it apart bit by bit. She opened her mouth to tell the captain they had to hurry, and then almost fell over in shock as the island was ripped apart, rock shreds flying up into the darkness above and disappearing, the rest of the small island sinking into the sea.

She fell to her knees, sobbing. The captain had turned over the wheel to one of the crewmembers, and now stood next to her, staring in disbelief.

"Yellow..." he mumbled. "And the others, too."


	12. Chapter 12

"We should probably try to get as close as possible, look for survivors" the captain mumbled, putting a hand on Crystals shoulder. He helped her up and walked her back, where she slumped down on a sofa, crying in anguish.

"Ruby" she whispered. "Crystal had to go back to help the others, but I am still here, okay? You are gonna be fine, the doctor said so."

"Sapphire..." the boy mumbled. "Please, forgive me."

"Ruby, are you awake?" she said quickly, but he was once again asleep.

They had almost reached what was left of the island by now, and Crystal tried to pull herself together. She clenched her jaw and got to her feet, ready to look for Gold, Silver or any of the others in the ice cold waves of the sea.

"Captain?" one of the seamen said, and she turned to see what it was about, a cold feeling of fear spreading through her.

"Yes?" the captain asked. "Did you find something?"

"We have a bunch of water pokémon coming in from the island, it might be the survivors we are looking for."

"What?" Crystal yelled, grabbing the seamans binoculars and running to look. "But he said that all their water pokémon were almost fainted, how could they-"

She interrupted herself to look through the binoculars. At first she saw nothing, but then she saw a group of water pokémon slowly moving towards them, lead by a redhead woman hanging from a floating Starmie.

"Is that... Misty?" she said, frowning. "But then- captain, steer towards them, quickly!"

"Already on the way" the captain answered. They reached eachother fast enough, and seeing that everyone seemed to be there, Crystal started crying and laughing at the same time.

"Gold! Silver, Yellow, everyone!" she yelled. "Oh thank God you are all okay!"

"Of course we are!" Gold yelled back, winking at her. "But no hugs, please, I think I broke a couple of ribs when the caverns collapsed!"

As they had gotten Misty and the dex holders on board, they started back towards the town again.

"How are Ruby and Sapphire?" Emerald asked. "They okay?"

"Ruby was just getting into surgery when I left," she explained, "but I don't know really how that went. How are all of you?"

"I am fine, a few cuts and bruises" Emerald said. "And Silver is fine too. Green, Blue and Red are all exhausted but I don't think they have any serious injury. Yellow is just asleep, and Gold was hit by a big boulder when the cave-in hit us, but he will be fine."

"Yeah, and if it wasn't for Misty here, we would all be dead by now" Gold added, pointing at the gym leader, who blushed slightly.

"Well, thank Red for that" she said. "He sent me a message just before you all left, telling me you might need help. I would had brought Brock and Erika too but I couldn't reach any of them on such short notice."

"I guess" Crystal said, giving a slight smile. "That as long as Ruby is okay, everything will be fine."


	13. Chapter 13

Crystal and Gold were watching Ruby when he woke up in the post-operations room. Sapphire had agreed to sleep for a while after she kept falling out of the chair from exhaustion after sitting at Rubys bedside for hours and hours.

Crystal went to wake her up the second she was certain that Ruby wouldn't just fall asleep again, and the wild girl beat her back to his room. She came in to see her standing there, giving him a careful hug, with a broad grin on her face.

"Don't ever ever do that again!" Sapphire mumbled. Crystal took Golds hand and dragged him out of the room, despite his quiet protests and moans of pain. Just before she exited the room she heard Sapphire add: "And if you fake amnesia again, I am going to jam my thumb into your wound..."

Outside, Silver was lounging in a big armchair, only moving to look at who exited the room.

"Oh its you" he said. "Ruby is awake then?"

"Yep!" Crystal said, smiling.

"And... you two are official now, or what?" Silver asked, nodding at their hands, which, Crystal realized, still intertwined. She released it with a blush, shaking her head, but not fast enough. A laugh sounded from behind them and she turned to see Blue come into the room from the café, two big mugs in her hands.

"So here is another lovely couple" she said, giving them a grin.

"It's so not like that!" Crystal said, blushing and rushing out through the door and leaving Gold to stand there.

"It's not, but she totally wants me" he added.

"I think she's not the only one who wants someone here" Blue said, laughing. She sank into the sofa next to the table Silver was sitting at and placed one of the mugs in front of him. Gold bit his lower lip, then followed Crystal out through the door with Blue laughing behind him. Green was standing just outside, muttering something about "the noisy woman".

In another room of the hospital, Red and Misty were catching up on some things when Yellow came in, not seeing that Misty was also there as she was looking down into her bag.

"Hey Red, I was going fishing and I wondered if you-" she started, then interrupted herself as she looked up, blushing. "Oh, oh I see you are... busy. Sorry!" she said, leaving the room.

Red looked after her, mouth half open as if he was about to say something but couldn't quite find the right words. Misty felt a knot of resolve in her belly.

"Shouldn't you follow her?" she asked, smiling sadly.

"What?" Red answered, finally tearing his attention away from the door.

"Well, it is quite obvious what you two feel for eachother" Misty said, looking away.

"And what about you?" Red said, fixing his eyes at her. She raised her eyes and met his.

"Red, I love you" she said, smiling. "But... there is someone else out there, who loves you even more."

"Misty," Red started, "I'm sorry that I-"

"Who needs you even more" she continued, looking him straight in the eyes now, in a very determined way. Red bit his lower lip for a while before answering.

"I know, but how about you?" he asked. This time, she gave him a geniune broad grin.

"Don't worry! I'll be fine!" she said.

"Promise?" Red asked, swallowing.

"Promise!" she answered. He nodded.

"Thanks Misty."

And with that, he gave her a hug and then ran out through the door to catch up with the blonde girl who was just outside. Misty sat down, a couple of sad tears coming to her eyes. She would be fine, of course. Sometime.

He caught up with her just a bit down the path to the lake. Thankfully, he had only gotten minor injuries and could move without too much pain or delay. She was hanging her head as she walked, fishing rod in one hand.

"Yellow!" he called out. She spun around on the spot as she heard her name, and stopped completely, eyes wide in surprise.

"R-Red?" she stuttered. "What-"

He stopped next to her, panting, then took her hand, holding it carefully as he started walking towards the lake, Yellow blushing furiously as she followed him along.

"There's something we need to talk about..." he said.

AUTHORS NOTE:

The last scene can be found as a 'comic' form on my deviantart account gallery, Pkmn2legacy.

Please note that I made the deviantion before I wrote this fanart and that I didn't plan on putting those two together until rather recently, which is why they are not 100% the same!


End file.
